Ingrid: Ingrid Bergman, a Personal Biography

Having had a close, sweet friendship with Ingrid the last 12 years of her life, I can easily say that Ms Chandler's remembrances of Ingrid, marked by numerous interviews of family, friends & collegues rings very true! Being privy to many personal aspects of Ingrid's life, visits to Choisel, dinners in Paris & London, etc., I was swept with nostalgia & memories of dear Ingrid as I read this marvelous story picturing Ingrid as she really was in her life. Following a less than nice review of a play in London, Ingrid was appearing in, she wrote to me about that notice & said: "Let the dogs bark the caravan moves on!" Typical Bergman. Unpretentious, caring, sweet, natural, I loved Ingrid dearly, as a friend! This book says it all!

This book tells a very human story about the life of Ingrid Bergman from the time of her parents before she was born, to her early life after her mothers death, to being an actress in Sweeden Hollywood and Italy to being a wife three times and mother of four including Isabella Rossalini. Great Book, Very interesting life!

This was a well-written story about Ingrid Bergman...I had seen her in several movies but did not know about her background. Just things I had read and heard about her. The author really captured her fascinating life in detail from her birth until her death...and revealed how Ingrid Bergman felt about the things that were happening to her throughout her life. I thought the book was a page turner and I couldn't put it down.

I enjoyed this book very much. It is another of the many books I own on Ingrid Bergman. When I bought this book I said to myself, "What more can be said about Ingrid that hasn't been said before?" Well, I did find out more about Ingrid in Chandler's book. It is well written and the print type is not small, but easy reading. Chandler interviews many of Ingrid's friends and, of course, her family. For those who love Ingrid Bergman and want to learn more about this great star, this book is a must.

OVER the years, writer Charlotte Chandler's friendships with an impressive array of figures of the American and European cinema have resulted in a series of revealing and engaging biographies on Federico Fellini, Billy Wilder and others. Her latest is "Ingrid," a personal biography of Ingrid Bergman. Chandler avoids analyzing her subjects and their careers, instead bringing them to life through their words and those of relatives, friends and colleagues gathered over many years. Chandler's tenacity drove her to seek out a nearly 100-year-old Leni Riefenstahl, who assured her that the reason Joseph Goebbels did not make a pass at Bergman when she made a film in Germany in 1938 was that she was too tall for him. Chandler got her director friend King Vidor to persuade Greta Garbo to talk with Chandler about her two brief encounters with Bergman. Chandler also has amassed in this book a treasure trove of revelations from Bergman; her second husband, director Roberto Rossellini; their twin daughters, Isabella and Ingrid; and countless others. Clearly, Bergman, who died on her 67th birthday in 1982, intended Chandler to tell her life story, and Chandler's description of this book as a "personal biography" is apt, although it ends up being as much a biography of Rossellini and is all the richer for it. Bergman and Rossellini emerge as individuals of much passion and generosity of spirit, inspired and cherished by those whose lives they touched. (Anthony Quinn was forever grateful for Bergman's efforts in getting Fellini to cast him in "La Strada.") Bergman was born in Stockholm in 1915 to a mother who died when she was 3. Her devoted, loving father died when she was 12. Bergman discovered her passion for acting as a teenager and swiftly attained screen stardom in Sweden before arriving in Hollywood, where she would become a major star of the 1940s in such films as "Casablanca," "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Gaslight," which won Bergman an Oscar for her role as a young wife whose husband (Charles Boyer) tries to drive her mad. She made three films for Alfred Hitchcock: "Spellbound," "Notorious" and "Under Capricorn." As wholesome as she was talented, Bergman was much admired for her naturalness, her beauty and unpretentiousness. By the mid-1940s, Bergman was a top box office draw, yet, according to Chandler, was growing unhappy with her devoted but controlling husband, Swedish dentist-turned-physician Petter Lindstrom, who was tall, handsome and athletic but short on passion. Seeing Rossellini's landmark neorealist "Open City," a gritty, jagged epic shot in the streets of Rome as World War II ended, changed Bergman's life, plunging her into one of the great scandals of the 20th century. Bergman famously sought out Rossellini, offering her acting services, which resulted in the film "Stromboli" (which was grievously cut by RKO for its U.S. release) and in her pregnancy by Rossellini. Lindstrom proved unforgiving. And when Bergman gave birth to a son